COMPENSATION has been demanded for affected residents and businesses following a horror fly plague at the Ulnes Walton tip.

Homes and firms in Croston and surrounding villages were hit by hundreds of thousands of flies last month.

Senior Chorley councillors and council officers met tip bosses who have given assurances that safety standards will be improved.

The plague broke out after inert waste normally used to cover the tip was changed to the textile-like material - Geo Hess - allowing the flies to breed quicker.

Tip operators Lancashire Waste Services, together with representatives from the Environment Agency, who act as the licensing and regulation authority, also attended the meeting and admitted there has never been any widespread research under controlled conditions about the use of experimental material.

Community services committee chairman Terry Brown said: "The Environment Agency also confirmed that the ineffective spraying material and techniques which were initially employed were contributory factors to the cause of the problems."

Councillor Brown and Croston and Bretherton ward councillors David Lloyd and David Heyes called for businesses to be compensated and cash to be given to community-related projects in the hit areas by Lancashire Waste Services.

Ken Taylor, operations manager for Lancashire Waste Services, said the compensation issue was still being discussed.

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